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CONFERENCE 2008
Scarborough 5 - 10
July 2008
10 July, 2008
Methodist
Conference 2008 Roundup
The
Methodist Conference met from 5-10 July in Scarborough. Revd Stephen Poxon was
inducted at President of the Conference, and Mr. David Walton as Vice President.
Conference also ordained 55 new Methodist ministers (50 Presbyters and five
Deacons).
Conference
addressed a number of contemporary issues, including knife crime, Burma,
Zimbabwe, stem cell research and abortion.
Time
was spent looking at the Youth Participation Strategy (YPS), a major new
initiative aimed at increasing the involvement of people aged 16-23 in the
running of the Church both nationally and locally. The YPS will see an
investment of more than £4 million over the next five years. The Youth
Conference also brought its concerns, including knife crime, Burma and the
pressures on young people combining church activities with further education or
work.
Conference
also committed the Church to fresh ways of expressing its mission. The
successful Fresh Expressions scheme, a joint venture with the Church of England,
has been renewed by both churches for a further five years. The Methodist
Conference also gave its support to a new Pioneer Ministries scheme, in which
the Church will invest over £4 million to establish new congregations across
the country, aimed especially at young adults and those who have had no prior
contact with any form of church.
Conference
received a major report on early human life, looking at issues such as stem cell
research, fertility treatments and abortion. The report offers guidance on how
to approach these complex and often highly personal topics. It also recognises
that attempts to respond to particular medical developments can easily be
quickly out of date as the technology moves on. Conference has commended for
study the report which says that embryos should not be created solely for the
purpose of research, but that it is acceptable for embryos created during
fertility treatments to be used for research. The Conference also voted to
review the Church’s current stance on abortion.
Conference
affirmed the Covenant with the Church of England, signed in 2003, and supported
the creation of a new body to continue the work of implementing it. This new
body will for the first time include representation from the Church in Wales and
the Scottish Episcopal Church, in recognition that the Methodist Church serves
all of Great Britain. The United Reformed Church will also be invited to
continue to participate. Conference offered prayer and support to the Church of
England’s General Synod (meeting almost simultaneously in York) as it
addressed major issues.
For
the first time, live video of Conference proceedings was broadcast via the
Conference website, and a video archive is also available. Live audio was also
broadcast in partnership with Premier Christian Radio. Conference also elected
its President and Vice-President for 2009-10. The Revd David Gamble were
designated to serve as President and Dr Richard Vautrey as Vice President at
next year’s Conference.
________________________
Methodist
Conference backs Youth Conference resolutions
- Knife
crime, Burma and the pressures on young people on the agenda
- Conference
also to discuss wide-ranging Youth Participation Strategy
The
Methodist Conference, meeting in Scarborough, has endorsed a number of
resolutions brought by the Youth Conference. Amongst other things, these call on
the Church to campaign to highlight the plight of the Burmese people, and to
investigate how local churches can address the issues that lead to violence
among young people, including knife crime.
Other
Youth Conference resolutions passed by the main Conference called for more
Bibles to be available to give away to new Christians, and to recognise the
pressures on young people undertaking local preacher training, especially when
combined with other educational commitments.
Four
Youth Conference representatives are in Scarborough as full voting members of
the Methodist Conference, which is just one part of the Church’s ongoing and
increasing commitment to involving young people at the very heart of
decision-making. Another expression of this is the Youth Participation Strategy
that Conference was agreed on Wednesday. This will be a multi-year investment in
involving a network of young people in many aspects of Church life.
Sarah
Tomes, a Youth Conference representative at Scarborough, said “these are
things that are very important to us, and it means a lot to have Conference’s
support. Some people say that young people are the future of the Church, but we
are part of it and have lot to offer right now.”
Notes
1)
The full texts of the Youth Conference report and the Youth Participation
Strategy report are available here: http://www.methodistconference.org.uk/confreports.htm
2)
The Youth Conference met in Cardiff Bay on 16-18 November 2007 under the theme
of “Let My People Go!”
___________
9
July, 2008
Church
to make major investment in youth engagement
The
Methodist Conference has agreed to invest more than £4 million in a major
initiative to develop and enhance the participation of young people in the life
of the Church.
The
Church’s Youth Participation Strategy is a five-year initiative involving a
specialist team of youth workers and young people employed to address how the
Church engages with youth culture on local and national levels. Each Methodist
district will receive a grant for the part-time employment of a young person
aged 16-23. For most of their time these Youth Enablers will work within their
district, but a proportion of their time will be used for national initiatives.
Each year every district will take on a new ‘Mission Possible’ project
proposed by young people and designed to put the Gospel into action in local
communities.
Mike
Seaton, Under 19’s Team Leader for the Church, says; ‘Young people need to
be empowered to live as Christians, to witness to their peers and to participate
as equals in the Church. Participation is all about involvement – it can be
anything from providing opinions to setting agendas and decision making. In
adopting this report, the Church is making a huge investment for future
engagement with young people and youth culture. This decision demonstrates that
the Church is serious about bringing youth participation into the heart of the
life of the Church.’
District
Youth Enablers will be supported by Connexional Participation Workers and seven
full-time regional Participation Workers (five in England and one each in
Scotland and Wales).
Conference
received the report and endorsed its recommendations. The pilot project will
begin in September with an ongoing programme of monitoring and evaluation with a
full report in 2011.
_______________________
Methodist
Conference elects new President and Vice President Designate
The
Revd David Gamble has been elected President Designate of the Methodist
Conference for 2009-2010, and Dr Richard Vautrey has been elected Vice President
Designate.
David is currently Coordinating
Secretary for Legal and Constitutional Practice handling issues ranging from
discipline to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults. He served as a
minister in two North Yorkshire Circuits, Tadcaster and York (South), before
becoming Children’s Secretary for the Division of Education and Youth and then
General Secretary for the Division. He has also been the Church’s Secretary
for Pastoral Care and Personal Relationships addressing family concerns such as
divorce and domestic violence.
David’s vision is of a church that is
outward looking, engaged in wider society, willing to challenge injustice
wherever it occurs, passionately committed to those who are or feel excluded.
David says; ‘I feel honoured to be elected for this role and hope to help the
Church to answer the questions the people are asking about issues that matter to
them in all areas of life. The Church
has to respond to peoples needs and concerns if we are ever to speak truth in a
mixed-up world’.
Richard
Vautrey is a GP in
Leeds
and the Deputy Chair of the British
Medical Association’s GP committee with extensive media experience. He is a
medical advisor for the Connexional Team and has served as a mission partner in
Nigeria
. He believes that there is a need for
the church to get better at communicating the gospel message in ways that all
can understand.
Richard says; ‘It is a great privilege to be elected by the Conference to
serve the Church in this way. I believe the Church has a key role in publicly
challenging matters of injustice and inequality, as well as leading the debate
on modern ethical questions. I am also passionate about the vital role that
volunteers and lay people play in the Church and as Vice President I will be
seeking to address how we can better empower and equip lay people for leadership
roles in the Church’
David
and Richard will be inducted as President and Vice President as the first items
of business at the 2009 Methodist Conference, which will meet in
Wolverhampton
from July 2-9.
_______________________
Methodist
Conference votes to review position on abortion
A
major report on abortion, assisted reproductive technologies and stem cell
research has been received by the Methodist Conference. The report, Created
in God’s Image, also discusses embryo screening and egg and sperm
donation. The report was jointly produced by the Methodist Church, the Baptist
Union of Great Britain and the United Reformed Church.
Created
in God’s Image
looks at the ethical and theological issues raised by these technologies, and
aims to give church members a useful framework for discussing them, and other
breakthroughs yet to come.
Conference
also voted that the Methodist Council should form a group to revise its position
on abortion, which was last reviewed in 1976. Since then, medical advances have
changed the ethical landscape, especially the discussion of the 24-week limit
for abortions.
Anthea
Cox, Methodist Coordinating Secretary for Public Life and Social Justice, says
“these are all difficult and confusing areas for ordinary people, yet also
potentially exciting for those who might benefit from them. This report helps us
to discuss and understand them better. Many people hold deeply held views on
early human life, and we need to ensure that we do not compromise our core
values in pursuit of medical developments. Modern medical technologies promise
great things, and we need to make sure that we as Christians are able to have
fully informed discussions the ethical dimensions of these.”
Notes:
1)
A summary of the current Methodist position on abortion can be found here:
http://www.methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.content&cmid=1540
_______________________
First
major equalities and diversity report presented to Methodist Conference
The
Methodist Conference has received a major report challenging the Church to
eliminate discrimination in an increasingly diverse Christian community.
This
report is the result of a project initiated in 2004 by the Conference and
carried out by the Equalities and Diversity Project, a representative group
including members who have experienced oppression due to race, gender, sexuality
and disability. The report shows journey the Church has taken in considering
these issues since 2004 and indicates the direction of future developments.
The
report was presented for exploration by the wider Church, offering an
opportunity for the Church to engage in its first comprehensive dialogue about
the broad agenda of equalities and
The report
identifies areas for further work on equalities and diversity in the Church
including a
diversity.
It addresses the many different kinds of discrimination faced by groups both
with the churches but also in wider society including, sexism, racism, disablism
and homophobia. It also outlines some of the stories that people in these
situations have shared with the group. The stories will be collected into a
series of booklets to accompany a further report in 2009.
Alison
Parker, Equalities and Diversity Project Worker for the Methodist Church, says;
‘This is a major step on the road to creating a more inclusive, welcoming and
credible Church. The Church as the Body of Christ is an expression of unity in
the great variety of God’s creation. This report has offered a challenging and
exciting opportunity to hear the voices of the marginalised and those working
for change in the Church.’
theological
exploration of the issues and the formulation of an equal opportunities policy
for adoption by the Church in 2009.
Conference
received the report and commended Equally
Different?, a new equalities and diversity campaign resource for use in
local churches, circuits and districts. This includes worship and Bible study
materials for use by individuals and groups, resources for children and young
people considering the issues and display materials such as posters and
postcards. A supporting website, www.methodistchurch.org.uk/equallydifferent,
also offers the chance for people to share their own experiences and ideas.
Notes
1.
The Equalities and Diversity report is available
online at www.methodistconference.org.uk.
2.
For more information about Equally
Different? visit www.methodistchurch.org.uk/equallydifferent.
_______________________
Major
report on five years of the Anglican-Methodist Covenant
·
Recommendations include extending Covenant
talks to Scotland and Wales.
A
major report received today by the Methodist Conference addresses the progress
made over the last five years of the Anglican-Methodist Covenant.
The
Covenant between the Methodist Church in Great Britain and the Church of England
was agreed by both churches in the summer of 2003. It was signed by the
Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the President and Vice-President of the
Methodist Conference and the general secretaries of both churches in the
presence of Her Majesty the Queen on 1 November that year.
The
quinquennial report of the Joint Implementation Commission (JIC) commends the
work done so far by the churches to implement the Covenant, and features a
number of ‘cameos’ illustrating how the Covenant is being put into action in
a variety of contexts. These include a joint Anglican-Methodist primary school
in Kent and volunteers from both churches working together to run a night café
and creative arts centre in Manchester.
The
Conference commended the report for further study and endorsed the
recommendations, which include appointing a successor body to the JIC for a
further five-year period. The scope of this body would extend to involve
representatives of the Church in Wales and the Scottish Episcopal Church and
from the Methodist Church in Scotland and Wales as well as relating more closely
to Ireland where there is already a Covenant between the Methodist Church in
Ireland and the Church of Ireland.
Professor
Peter Howdle, Co-Chair of the Commission and past Vice-President of the
Methodist Conference, says; ‘As the Covenant nears its fifth birthday, this
report offers a chance to reflect on a major initiative for unity and mission in
the history of our Churches. We have heard so many encouraging stories from
those living out the Covenant both in church life and in serving their
communities. But it is clear that there is still much to learn and much to do in
order to make the journey towards fuller visible unity.’
The
report recognises that further work is needed for the Covenant to move forward,
particularly in encouraging and resourcing local churches. Expert support and
advice is being made available to Bishops and
District Chairs wishing to encourage deeper engagement with the Covenant in
their area and take up the opportunities it gives for unity in common life and
mission.
Notes
1.
The quinquennial report of the Joint Implementation
Commission is available from MPH (www.mph.org.uk).
2.
For more information about the Covenant, visit http://www.anglican-methodist.org.uk/.
3.
The Church of England discussed the report on Monday 7
July at General Synod.
_______________________
8
July, 2008
Methodist
Church condemns UK Government’s failure of Zimbabwean refugees
The
Methodist Conference has condemned the UK government’s failure to care for
Zimbabwean refugees and is urging the Government to immediately stop all
deportations to Zimbabwe and grant indefinite ‘right to remain’ to
Zimbabwean refugees.
The
Conference expressed support for all international efforts to bring about a
peaceful, sustainable democratic future for Zimbabwe.
Kevin
Fray, World Church Secretary for Africa, says; ‘We are deeply concerned for
the wellbeing of all people. With this in mind, it is right that the Church
expresses solidarity with all Zimbabweans at this time.’
Local
churches are being invited to contribute to the Fund for World Mission to help
the Zimbabwean churches respond to urgent humanitarian needs in the country. The
churches have requested funding for a lorry for aid distribution and secure
transport of Methodist ministers to their new stations. An initial gift raised
by the Conference’s Sunday offering will be sent to support this. Resources
will be made available to help Methodist churches in Britain understand the
ongoing situation and respond appropriately.
The
Conference has also directed that these concerns be brought to the attention of
the British Government, United Nations, the Commonwealth, the Southern African
Development Community and the African Union.
In
2008 the British Methodist Church has sent solidarity grants totalling more than
£70,000 to support humanitarian work in Zimbabwe.
_______________________
7
July 2008
Church
seeks ‘pioneers’ to reach out to young adults
The
Methodist Church has approved a major new initiative designed to reach out to
those with no experience of church, especially young adults.
The
Pioneering Ministries scheme will see the establishment of new Christian
communities and congregations in a variety of locations from city centre and
suburban areas to more rural settings.
There
will initially be twenty new projects, with the first beginning as early as
possible in 2009. Each project will be designed to serve the spiritual and
practical needs of those who have previously had little or no experience of
Church.
Although
the projects are envisioned as eventually becoming independent, the scheme will
involve a major investment of Church resources and funds, with an initial setup
cost of more than £4.3m.
Revd
Graham Horsley, Secretary for Evangelism and Church Planting, says; ‘This is
clearly a risky strategy, but sometimes the Church is called to take risks. In
saying “yes” to pioneer ministries the Church is sacrificing control for the
sake of creativity. Rather than setting the agenda for evangelism and mission
centrally, Pioneer Ministers will be free to discern the shape of their mission
in their particular context. What grows may not look like a traditional
“church” but will enable young adults to worship God and be equipped as
disciples.’
The
Church will seek to recruit as Pioneer Ministers lay and ordained people who
demonstrate vision, motivation and the ability to inspire others. They will be
offered support and training and will be able to build new, viable independent
Christian congregations rooted in the Methodist tradition.
_______________________
6 July 2008
New Methodist
Vice President calls on Church to “choose life”
- “In
many situations we have a choice, and how we choose matters
David
Walton, new Vice President of the Methodist Conference, called on the Church to
“choose life” in his inaugural address. Speaking on the second day of the
2008 Methodist Conference, meeting at the Spa Centre in
Scarborough
, David said that we
are all accountable in some ways for our lives, and that how we choose matters.
David
is a practising lawyer from
Manchester
and he started his
witty address with a comment that ‘it had been so cold in
Manchester
recently that some
lawyers had been seen with their hands in their own pockets.’
He spoke of how the Church was helping people to 'choose life' in places
as diverse as
Guatemala
and Derbyshire.
As
a practising lawyer, David called on the Church to be aware of the difficult
ethical decisions that modern business can force on people: he asked “what
does it mean in practical terms to live out our Christian faith when the choices
don’t always seem that clear cut?”
David
went on to talk about he was inspired by a recent youth rugby match, even though
he says “I am to football what Amy Winehouse is to Morris dancing.” He
challenged the Church to think about how it handles differences, and spoke of
how his local church has a French West African congregation. Many of these are
refugees from the
Congo
, and come from
different sides of the civil war. Yet they work together to “walk to a new
place together.”
As
part of David’s address, he arranged for each member of Conference to be given
an Eccles cake in celebration of his home.
VICE -PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS :
6 July 2008
‘Choose
life...’
I am very
conscious that we are here today for different reasons
- some of
us as members of the Conference, whether from these islands or overseas
- some as
ordinands, on this hugely significant day for you
- some as
family, visitors and guests
You are
all welcome and I hope that you will all feel welcome here.
We will
have travelled from very different and sometimes exotic places.
I myself have come from Eccles.
I am a
lawyer by profession, but I trust you won’t hold that against me.
I practise in the city of
Manchester
- I noticed a weather report not so long ago in
a national newspaper: ‘
Manchester
was so cold last month that some lawyers could
be seen with their hands in their own pockets.’
I have
been nurtured in the
Methodist
Church
- bathed in the font if you like - and I am very
grateful for the care of my parents, other members of my family and close
friends and the congregation at Monton in the Salford Circuit.
For it is here in this community, as I grew up, that I began to see in
all sorts of practical ways what living Christian faith is all about.
I think
of Eileen Wooller, my Sunday School Superintendent, who many years ago was a
pioneer in setting up the first Gateway Club in the area through what is now
Mencap. She prayed as she lived and she lived as she prayed. I will embarrass
Ian Huddleston who for the last thirty or so years has set out the table tennis
tables and restocked the drinks and sweets and, come rain or shine every Friday
night, has opened the doors of the youth club.
And as a
representative lay person, I want to pay tribute to and celebrate those lay
people of the
Methodist
Church
who week by week live out their faith in
sometimes tough and thankless situations - but where by their commitment they
are making a difference.
And what
I experienced is what the President yesterday talked about - the transforming
grace of God. And as I grew up I was
challenged by the conviction that we live not just to ourselves - but to God,
and therefore to our neighbours. We are in some way ‘accountable’ for our
lives. This is the heart of the Gospel we heard read just now.
(Mark 12 vv 28-35)
And in
many situations we have a choice. And how we choose matters
- matters ultimately.
I am
grateful to one of the ordinands for the inspiration for my principle theme
today. I was at the ordinands’
testimony service in
Manchester
when that Old Testament lesson was read.
‘I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have
set before you life and death, blessings and curses.
Choose life ...so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord
your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him...’
(Deuteronomy 30
v 19)
CHOOSE
LIFE
: that’s what we are
about.
So often,
however, we have to admit that the Church seems to more be about being AGAINST
things, not FOR them.
One of my
favourite stories is of the Anglican vicar who had invited the Bishop to lunch.
He thought he ought to invite the local Methodist minister as well,
although he was a rather dour and sanctimonious character.
Before
lunch he offered his guests a drink and the Bishop said he would have a gin and
tonic which was duly produced. The
Vicar asked if the Methodist
minister would like the same, to which the reply came: ‘I’d rather commit
adultery’. At which point the Bishop handed back his glass and said: ‘ I
didn’t realise there was choice.’
We have
more reason than ever to speak out about the devastating effect of alcohol on so
many lives, but we have more reason to celebrate that quality of life which is
not based on any drug or artificial stimulant.
1.
So what does it mean to ‘choose life’?
+
In some places, it will mean to work to provide the very basics of life;
water, food , shelter, healthcare.
I was
privileged earlier in the year to visit the
National
Evangelical
Primitive
Methodist
Church
in
Guatemala
- this is where Amilcar Solorzano (who read our
second lesson) comes from. I was taken to the
village
of
Pataloupe
I, 8000 feet up in the
Highlands
. There I met Juan Ixtan, the pastor of the
Methodist
Church
. On the lower floor of the Church Juan showed us
two rooms which housed a pharmacy and a dental surgery ; he also showed us the
map of the village he had drawn. He
had divided it into sections - so he knows which houses have latrines and which
don’t, which families have a higher incidence of sickness than others - in
effect he has drawn up a community health programme.
The Church now intends to get him to go into other villages to help the
local people do the same there.
On the
roof of the Church in Pataloupe a group of women were weaving the most
beautifully designed and colourful cloth; they were teaching their children to
do this too.
+
Another way in which we enable people to choose life is by encouraging
their creative gifts- whether in craft, drama, worship, music, or sport.
Especially the young - I’m pleased that we in the
Methodist
Church
are developing a new Youth Participation
Strategy. I pray it will be a means
of releasing talent and creative energy among people of all ages.
I always
remember us taking a group of young people to Derbyshire - one of the joyous
tasks was to go abseiling off a railway bridge down into a river bed.
One of the girls found it difficult to join in the group - and they
weren’t always too friendly to her. There
was no way she was going abseiling. But
remarkably, little by little, and rather to my surprise the others persuaded her
to get kitted out in harness and ropes, to lean out over the parapet of the
bridge - and after much banter -
eventually to let herself go. I was
standing at the bottom to catch her. I shall never forget the massive grin of
pride and satisfaction in her previously inconceivable achievement.
+ But
there are many areas where choosing life and how we do it is not always all that
obvious (this week in Conference, for example,
we will be debating the issues surrounding human embryology).
Much of
my time is spent at work. Like you
I’m aware of many people who are working too hard and others - whether because
of health or education or discrimination - find
themselves excluded from paid employment.
My hope
that during this year we might as a Church engage more actively with those who
are in the midst of all this - some who have to make difficult ethical decisions
about the sort of work they should or shouldn’t do; or who have to take tough
decisions which affect other people’s jobs or employment prospects - where do
they look for help, a place to reflect and talk things through?
What
about the Bank employee I met who is under severe pressure to sell customers
products she feels they don’t need and can’t afford.
But her livelihood is riding on her sales.
Business
itself is asking many of these questions: corporate
social responsibility is very much on the agenda - can you act ethically and run
a successful business?
I’m
very conscious of some of those decisions I’ve been involved in - or failed to
take - which seem to have brought curses rather than blessings.
What does it mean in practical terms to live out our Christian faith
where the choices don’t always seem that clear cut?
I would
like to think that the Church can be a place where we could talk openly about
these things - between ourselves and with those we work alongside - and to
explore what the Bible and our Christian experience and ethical understanding
have to contribute to a debate, a debate which is going on now with or without
us. How can our business practices and the decisions we make at work be life
giving and not death dealing?
But to do
this we must be a place, a people, where
we can trust each other enough to debate and differ and still to live together.
And we’re not afraid to do it.
2.
Living with difference - walking together to a new place
I have to
confess I’m not a sportsman - I am to football what Amy Winehouse
is to Morris dancing.
But I
went to see my nephew Tim play rugby last year.
I was impressed by how many 16 and 17 year old girls are keen rugby fans.
Impressed too by the fierceness of attack and tackling during the match
and then at the end the handshakes and ritual cheering of the opponents side;
the contrast between the intensity of the battle on the field and the relative
camaraderie off it.
It’s
not of course always like that elsewhere.
The drama
which was presented this morning I hope entertainingly pointed up the underlying
prejudice and fear of difference we all have - even if we don’t always admit
it to ourselves.
As a
counterpoint, those words we heard from 1 John are the most life-giving I know :
‘There is no fear in love - but perfect love casts out fear.’
(I John 4 v17)
We live
in a society where so much of our conflict is based on fear of people we don’t
know or who look a bit different or whose beliefs we’re suspicious of. We live
in a Church where so much of our conflict is based on fear of people we don’t
know or who look a bit different or whose beliefs we’re suspicious of.
And we
need in both places to develop a new level of trust and respect and openness.
It’s
not just about having an argument or a debate, agreeing to differ and going our
separate ways - but somehow travelling to a new place together.
The Roman
Catholic priest Vincent Donovan discovered this as he lived among the Masai
people - in a culture he found very different to his own:
Do not
try to call people back to where they were, and do not try to call them to where
you are, as beautiful as that place might seem to you.
Instead you must have the courage to go with them to a place that neither
you nor they have ever been before.
In our
own Circuit in
Salford
we have a French West African congregation; many of these are refugees
or asylum seekers from the
Congo
. But
there is a tension, because some of them come from opposite sides in the civil
war they have escaped from - and have experienced things which will
fundamentally colour their view of those on the other side. Their Minister was
telling me how impressed he has been at the practical ways they are giving care
and support to one another; the differences remain but they are tentatively
learning to walk to a new place together.
Those of
you who are deacons and ministers have a great privilege. You are called to be
enablers and encouragers of communities where - because Jesus is at the centre -
perfect love can begin to cast out fear. (These may be established
churches or entirely new groupings of people.)
These are
not places of impossible conformity where all must think and act alike - but
they are places where people trust each other enough to be open to listen and
explore their differences - who are prepared to journey to a new place together.
Who know what it is to live not just to themselves.
And so
for all of us, lay or shortly to be ordained, sceptical or searching, convinced
or not yet certain :‘Today I have set before you life and death -
blessings and curses. Choose
life...’
David Walton
_______________________
5 July 2008
Inaugural address by Revd
Stephen Poxon, new President of the Methodist Conference
The new President of the Methodist Conference,
the Revd Stephen Poxon, has called on the Church to celebrate God’s grace and
transform the world. Speaking on the opening day of the 2008 Methodist
Conference in Scarborough, Stephen invited the Church to “begin to grapple
with how this wonderful grace of God might transform the world.”
Stephen also spoke passionately on the situation
in Zimbabwe: “We look in horror and sorrow at what has been happening in
Zimbabwe. How slow as a nation we have been to condemn Mugabe and his regime,
and only now are people waking up to the violence and genocide? We must continue
to find ways to express our solidarity with all those who struggle for justice,
freedom and peace."
Stephen also offered his “thoughts and prayers
to our friends in the Anglican communion” on the eve of the Lambeth
Conference. The five-year-old Anglican-Methodist Covenant will be discussed by
both the Methodist Conference and the Church of England’s General Synod.
In his address, which marks the start of his year
of office, Stephen recalled how he and his wife Myrtle arrived as a young couple
in Jamaica to work with a church there. He said that the love showed by the
people there did much to shape both of them, and gave examples of other acts of
extraordinary kindness shown by people who had little or nothing for themselves.
Following the 2007 decision by Sheffield to
become the UK’s first “city of sanctuary,” Stephen called for more places
to follow that example by recognising “the contribution of asylum seekers and
refugees to the city of Sheffield, and committing ‘to offering hospitality to
people who come here in need of safety from persecution.’”
Stephen spoke about hospitality as a key example
of grace, and expressed regret that the Church has not been more hospitable in
the past towards people who moved to Britain. But he celebrated the modern
examples of church work with asylum seekers and how Methodist churches are being
hospitable to their communities, to children and young people and to other
faiths. As Chair of the Methodist North Lancashire District, Stephen has seen
many examples of churches working with the large Bangladeshi and Pakistani
communities there.
Stephen is married with four children. His wife,
Deacon Myrtle Poxon, was Vice President of the Methodist Conference in 2004-5,
and they are the first married couple to have held both posts.
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BOLTON
AND ROCHDALE METHODIST
DISTRICT